Unsung Class of 2008

Vet didn’t wait to be drafted

Inwood resident is proud of the time that he spent in the Navy

September 29, 2008

Editor's note: The Journal's annual Unsung Heroes feature, which runs each Monday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day, profiles U.S. veterans who served in wars and conflicts from World War II to the present.

INWOOD - As a young man in his early 20s, World War II veteran Walter West had a comfortable life with little to worry about.

A college graduate, West was an engineer and physicist who had a secure job with Mack Truck Laboratories in Plainfield, N.J. But even though he had a deferment from the draft and a safe future ahead of him, West decided to join the Navy anyway to serve his country in the war that was raging overseas.

Article Photos

World War II veteran Walter West sits on his porch holding a picture of his family as he recalls what is most important to him Wednesday morning in Inwood. (Journal photo by LaBrell Guy)

"I went and volunteered for the Navy," said West, who now lives in Inwood with his wife. "I knew in good time they would get me, and I didn't want to go into the Army or the Marine Corps. I wanted the Navy because it was all mechanical. It was all machines."

For three days in a row he traveled to New York, where he waited in long lines with fellow citizens who wanted to volunteer. Set on joining the Navy, West made sure not to wear his glasses, something that would have prohibited him from being accepted into that branch of the military at the time, he said. By bending over and squinting, he forced himself to read eye charts during his evaluation and - despite poor eyesight - he was accepted into the Navy as an apprentice seaman.

"I was in the Pacific. I was on an attack troop transport ship, what they call an APA. We were island hopping, invading this island and that island. We only lost one ship," West said.

Eventually, West would rise in the ranks and become a chief machinist mate. He and other crew members were responsible for the several high-speed turbines that controlled everything from propulsion and engine power to electricity on his ship.

It was when he was working in the belly of the ship that he and his crew were struck by a Japanese torpedo on one occasion, but the ship did not sustain heavy damage or casualties.

The torpedo struck the ship's hull sideways, just a few feet above West's head. While it didn't sink the ship, it was enough to spring a few leaks and forced the crew to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

"Luckily enough that thing didn't come through the bulk head. Evidently it was fishtailing as it came toward us," he said.

The close call, though, would pale in comparison to his other duties as a member of the invasion forces of Japanese-held islands like Saipan and Tinian. Aboard a LCVP landing craft, West provided cover for troops storming the beach heads, who were tasked with softening up defenses.

"We went up on the shore, the front came down and I was back here with a machine gun shooting," he said.

He said the men simply went running in. They had no choice but to go.

"It was a tremendous feeling, a tremendous experience that I would never want to live through again. I guess you'd call it death warmed over. It was terrible," West said.

However, there was one incident just prior to the invasion of Saipan that was a good memory for West. When he and his fellow men were onboard the ship, they noticed a small black and white terrier swimming for all its worth in middle of the Pacific ocean. The small canine had been aboard a U.S. ship lost during the bombardment leading up to the invasion.

"We didn't stop our ship - we couldn't in that area," West said. "We lowered a life boat and dragged it along side for a little bit and picked the dog up and brought it on the ship. He was our mascot from then on."

The crew named him Saipan and he eventually made it back to the United States, thanks to one of West's crew members.

As U.S. forces grew closer and closer to the Japanese mainland, West said they had a feeling the war was coming to an end, but how much longer it would go on they didn't know.

"I think all of us thought it was a tremendous sigh of relief when the war was over. We knew it was coming to an end but things don't come to a blunt end like that. They taper off - most wars do," West said.

In fact West and others were given shore leave to Japan after the war had ended but before the armistice had officially been signed. That led to a somewhat uncomfortable welcome.

"They looked at me as if they hated me. They hated my guts," West said.

Following the war, West returned to Mack Truck Laboratories, but he had another career path in mind. He decided to pursue a career in civil engineering, and he eventually helped with construction of the Garden State Parkway and 36 miles of the New Jersey turnpike.

West moved to Inwood following his retirement and played the organ at Grace Episcopal church for years, before he suffered a series of strokes. While his memory has been diminished somewhat, some things - like the names of those he served with and the time he spent on the Pacific - remain as vivid in his recollection as when they first happened.

"I never thought that war would ever end but it did. ...," he said. "I'm quite proud of what I did. I was not a bystander. I was in the middle of it."